Heretics

Index

In Our Own Words

"It has never been proven that Chaos cultists are anything more than the product of the fevered imaginings of certain of the more zealous Witch Hunters. Why they have to go on and on about 'corruption from within' and 'debased orgiastic sects of the Lord of Pleasure' when the real danger is the Marauders of the north, I'll never know. I ask you, what motivation could these successful merchants, nobles, and scholars have for allying with Chaos, when they already hold positions of such eminence within the Empire? It would be like a queen bee poisoning her own hive."

— Albrecht Kinear, Professor Emeritus at the University of Nuln, speaking at a commission to advise the Elector Count of Nuln on the threat of Chaos

"What man of Miklgardr has ever paid a toll to sail the seas? We are pirates. We are Norscan. We are the wolves of the sea, and everything in the sea is our prey. You are our prey."

— Dalla Ulfarsdottir, Norse Shieldmaiden

"What choice did I have? I would be a loyal son of the Empire yet, had my hand not begun to change. I did nothing to make it occur. I read no proscribed books. I learned no profane rituals. I followed by teachers' instructions to the letter, and still I changed. Could I go to my professors and tell them my plight? Could I ask for mercy at the Temple of Sigmar? No. The only mercy the Empire gives its twisted children is the axe. What could I do? I wanted to live. I did not want my great mind to go to waste merely because one of my limbs had betrayed me."

— Magus Lichtmann, Warlock Engineer

"Is it so wrong to want to be on the winning side? Year by year the Beastmen grow bolder and the Marauders stronger. Year by year there are more Mutants, and worse, within the borders of the Empire. The Emperor is fighting a losing battle. I am a pragmatist first and foremost; the Empire has made me rich, but Chaos will help me to survive when Middenheim is in flames and its people are food for Beastmen or sacrifices to the Blood God. Survive and even prosper. The Master of Fortune is good to those who revere him."

"Horrified at the fate of their companion, the remaining adventurers chastised the daemon, who replied that they should simply be more specific in their wish-making."

— Mishka Levkov, Tomb Robber

"As for the infant, it might grow up more quickly than an ordinary child. Some of them do. Anyway, altering folk is worthwhile for its own sake. You might even say it's a sacrement."

— 'Mama' Solveig Weiss, Healer, Midwife & Heretic

Scholar's View

"There was a time, before your affliction, when you knew quite a bit about everyone in Miragliano. But perhaps the rot has crawled into your brain as well as your hand."

— Brunner the Bounty Hunter

"He who is touched by Chaos, may harm Chaos... but must always beware, lest he become the instrument of Chaos instead of its destroyer."

— Astyanax, Tilean Enchanter

"Kill the corrupted. They're beyond saving. Do it now, or we all die!"

— Jakob Wolff, Warrior-Priest of Sigmar

"This symbol is agony to you. Much more than the burning. For such as you, the very presence of holiness is pain. You deserve nothing less."

— Annika Bohringer, Witch Hunter

"The cults of our blessed Empire often act as frightened vengeful children, squabbling amongst themselves. Yet, we forget that while we fight each other, the forces of Chaos and its minions wait to take us all by surprise."

— Avemar Teinhoff of Carroburg, Celestial Magister of the Celestial Order

"Whatever has put the taint on them, their fate is still the same. Heretics burn."

— Inquisitor Gualtiero Bocca, Solkanite War-priest

"You have tormented me more than you know with your elaborate account of these forces of Chaos which threaten the world in so many different ways, and to which my own brother sold his soul."

"Albrecht Kinear, former Professor of the University of Nuln, this court finds you guilty of trafficking with Daemons amd selling your soul to Chaos. You profaned the high office and renown with which you were entrusted when you joined the Silver Wheel society here in Nuln, and you compounded our damnation when you steeped yourself so thoroughly in its dark and sorcerous teachings as to be made its leader. Your already unforgiveable crimes are made still worse by your continual deliberate misdirection of legitimate authority with your false pronouncements on Chaos and many another matter. Gunther, Hans—take him outside and burn him. Now."

— Vorster Pike, Witch Hunter, speaking at the commission to advise the Elector of Nuln on the threat of ChaosAlbrecht of Nuln, was burned at the stake 1301 IC for pernicious declamation.

"There are gods of wrath and horror, whose domain in growing in the world of men. The cause is terror, for when men see evil in the world, and fear it will claim them, their courage often fails, and they try to placate the force of evil instead of standing against them."

— Orfeo, Bretonnian Minstrel, recounting a warning of the Chaos threat ministered by the Morrian Father Superior of the Border Princedom of Aldium, in the Khyprian empire

"They have raped and pillaged the coasts of the Old World for centuries, putting towns and temples alike to the sword. They are a treacherous people, brother. Daemon-ridden and corrupt. They bathe in foetid pools that glow in night, and make offerings to twisted idols. They venerate the mutant, the beastman and the marauder. They are not worthy of your blood or your sacrifice."

War in the north has been raging on and off since before 2004 when the Storm of Chaos played out globally. The massive narrative campaign for Warhammer marked a golden age of releases that began with the Mordheim game published in 1999.

An unhealthy trend is developing in the world of tie-in fiction. The term 'retcon' was born within the comics industry. Now every major movie franchise is rewriting lore or reinventing personalities to fit a commercial template for a corporate release. Whether it is an adaptation or a continuation, there must be some logic behind the pretence that past events never occurred. Time travel unmakes historical happenings. Crossing into parallel dimensions reshapes universes. When imagination fails to deliver then for convenience let's say it was a dream. All solutions continue to be popular trends in fantasy story telling.

Anyone who takes an interest in the historical nature of things can hopefully appreciate this sentiment; What happened, happened! Get over it.

Most enthusiasts drift in and out of the hobby at stages of their lives. Playing mostly 3rd and 4th edition Warhammer battles my interest in military scale engagements had dwindled by the time 5th edition was released. The lore has been my anchor since the beginning! Reconnecting me with tabletop combat through story telling, in skirmishes (using Mordheim system) later inspired by refined sourcebooks and better quality novels published across the years that would follow. Contemporary authors like C L Werner, Josh Reynolds, David Guymer, Darius Hinks and Chris Wraight in particular have done a fine job building upon Oldhammer stories quilled by Bill King and Jack Yeovil. Exemplary work by Green Ronin in Warhammer RPG never ceases to amaze.

Of the End Times apocalypse itself I have feelings of indifference. The levelling of every major city and repository of lore contained therein is a terrible waste. Okay so Marienburg has been sacked four times previously! Cities rise and fall. Resurrection is a big theme in the series. Recovering from decapitation is a big ask. My favourite character Brunner snuffed it in volume 5. He did blow Archaon off his daemon steed with a wyrdstone bullet before being run through on the Slayer of Kings. Damn shame the bounty hunter's second pistol misfired otherwise he could've claimed an unprecedented reward. These are the moments on the battlefield I will remember. Gotrek finally finds his doom. The dwarf slayer has earned it... Unless there is another rewrite of the history books in seven years times, because Karl Franz wakes up covered in sweat to discover it was all a bad dream, his night terrors possibly induced by chewing weirdroot or more likely taking a Lahmian vampire to his bed.

Lots of hard graft that has gone into maintaining continuity over the past 15 years suddenly seems to have gone out the window. That is the element of this grand campaign which has me puzzled. There have been severe compromises made by bringing this story to press. It contains the same brand of irritating contradictions that fans of comic books have resigned themselves to living with. Forgive or forget, the epic scale of this new military orientated lore is magnificently presented. It's an ambitious series of stories where the traditions of showcasing biased accounts have not been entirely discarded. e.g. What you might have experienced in a Council of Thirteen meeting can easily discredit accounts found in a tale of Dwarf Lords.

While ambivalence surrounds the evolution of the game story for hobbyists battling in the modern day, it is amusing to find plenty of Oldhammer players quit the hobby before personalities like Nagash, Thorgrim and Malekith ever came into existence. Meaning they couldn't give a fuck if the characters or the world lives or dies.

Like the gods, perhaps some players are tired. Others are mortified by developments.

It has been worth waiting to see the thing out. The story arc itself is mammoth. A shame to upturn a rich history by hinting at the lore from Storm of Chaos being retrod. That uncertain aspect of it has been poorly handled, lending the affair to inconsistency. Dwarfs have long memories for bearing grudges. There are enough dates and excerpts to be scrounged out of source material to catalogue the second coming of Archaon (formerly Diederick Kastner, bastard son of a Norse champion of the Vargs). Anyone who was in the north when Archaon failed to conquer the Fauschlag in 2522 saw the Chaos warlord forced into retreat. Whether the Everchosen took sanctuary in Brass Keep before fleeing the Middle Mountains across the Sea of Claws to regroup, it is unsurprising the barbarian hordes were driven back. Their lack of discipline not to mention personal hygiene failings is evidence enough.

Warhammer world being brought to the brink of self-destruction might aptly mirror the marketplace position of a corporation once thought to lord over the industry from its ivory tower on the high street. Moving with the times means that all fantasy gaming could be set historically in a time of legends. Not just for Mordheim players then.

Survivors grieve and move on.

"Gotrek's passing will be the doom of this world. But it may be enough to save the next."
— Morzanna, Mutant-Prophetess